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A stormy evening welcomed the riders and although it threatened to rain it never eventuated to the relief of the riders.
A Grade
A general lethargy was felt in the bunch tonight which was probably reflective of the conditions and the howling headwind down the back straight. Tim Pawson, recharged after a weeks holiday got proceedings underway with the first attack of the evening along with Rodney Harris. This was short lived as first several riders bridged up and then the field all came back together. The first sprint was taken by Wayne Mason as a small group found itself clear. This was soon neutralised but not for long as other small groups continued to form and dangle off the front. Plenty of riders were willing to have a go but the headwind was making life difficult down the back straight. The second sprint was taken by Mike Frankovich and for a while after this sprint a break formed that contained almost half the bunch but none of the top five riders overall. The main field (or the back half really) finally began to chase and brought it all back together with three laps to go. At this point Tim Pawson launched himself with reckless abandon into the headwind determined to go for broke. The bunch hesitated as no one was willing to take up the chase into the headwind. A small group tried to go after Pawson but the bunch was on them and the pace eased again. Into the last lap Ryan Hoogenberg found himself on the front first and then Karl Murray. Neither wanted to lead out or chase so it was left to Matt Gilbert to wind it up for the sprint and try and bring Pawson back. Karl Murray found himself on the front early and jumped first. David Wyman took this as his cue to blast through on the inside and opened up a handy gap as Murray and Turner battled for third. In the end Murray took third easily and Eric McKenzie came through for 4th as Turner faded to 5th. Meanwhile Tim Pawson celebrated a great solo victory in the style that is his trademark - the Ekimov way, having the first and ultimately the last move of the race.
B Grade
The headwind put a dampener on the pace for B Grade tonight but there were still plenty of people willing to have a go. Fergus O'Connor livened the race up early as he dangled off the front for a couple of laps. The first sprint saw the bunch back together and was taken by David Richards. Despite plenty of attacks the bunch found itself together coming into the last three laps. Finally the pace began to come on and the bunch lined out. Into the last corner it was Clint Patchett who got things going early and looked like he might hold on but was rolled on the line by a fast finishing Todd Hewlett who is definitely in the hunt for the overall with two races to go.
A Grade 1 Tim Pawson 2 David Wyman 3 Karl Murray 4 Eric McKenzie 5 Kieran Turner 6 David Rae 7 Aaron Strong 8 Nigel Hunt B Grade 1 Todd Hewlett 2 Clint Patchett 3 Ric Woodward 4 Brendon Fowler 5 Christian Pulley 6 Dean Griffen 7 Richard Speer 8 Brett Slater 9 Marty Stock 10 Duncan Styles Points Classification A Grade 1 Karl Murray 97 2 Kieran Turner 89 3 Eric McKenzie 72 4 Ryan Hoogenberg 5 Gordon Bearman 41 6 Tim Pawson 38 7 David Wyman 36 8 Murray Spencer 35 9 Aaron Strong 31 10 Rusty Smith 29 B Grade 1 Todd Hewlett 87 2 Christian Pulley 85 3 Richard Speer 79 4 Dean Griffen 54 5 Matt Treanor 43 6 Chris Tennant-Brown 40 7 Clint Patchett 31 8 Kim Struthers 30 9 Adam Gaskal 26 10 Gareth Summers